For two decades, the Crime and Justice Institute (CJI) has partnered with Massachusetts communities through the Shannon Community Safety Initiative (CSI) to improve the lives and opportunities of young people growing up in Fall River.
As Shannon CSI celebrates its 20th anniversary, it also marks 20 years of CJI’s partnership in sustaining one of the nation’s longest-running, evidence-based youth gang violence prevention efforts: the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP’s) Comprehensive Gang Model— an established, research-informed framework shown to reduce serious and violent offending, decrease gang involvement, and improve outcomes in education and employment for participating youth.
After a generation of improving outcomes for youth, CJI is proud to continue serving as the city’s Local Action Research Partner under the newest round of state awards.
This year, the Healey-Driscoll Administration announced more than $8.4 million in FY26 Shannon CSI funding across 15 communities. With this year’s investment, Massachusetts has directed nearly $176.2 million into Shannon CSI since its inception, reflecting a sustained commitment to coordinated, community-led gang violence prevention.
What 20 Years Has Built
Through OJJDP’s Comprehensive Gang Model, the Shannon CSI Initiative advances its five core strategies: social intervention, suppression, opportunity provision, organizational change, and community mobilization.
Over time, participating communities have experienced measurable reductions in youth-involved crime.
Between 2020 and 2024, Shannon sites saw:
- 24% reduction in aggravated assaults (ages 10–24)
- 52% reduction in robberies (ages 10–24)
Twenty years of continuity has allowed communities to refine strategy, strengthen trust, and build systems that extend beyond individual grant cycles.
CJI’s Role: Turning Strategy into Implementation
As Fall River’s Local Action Research Partner, CJI supports:
- Strategic planning grounded in data
- Performance monitoring and analysis
- Cross-sector coordination
- Implementation coaching
- Continuous improvement processes
CJI’s role is not program ownership. It is infrastructure support, ensuring that gang violence prevention strategies are aligned with OJJDP’s model and are measured and sustained.
Research-to-practice partnerships often operate behind the scenes, but they are essential to maintaining fidelity to evidence-based models and adapting to changing community conditions.
“Sustaining the model requires more than funding. It
requires community collaboration, disciplined
implementation, and shared accountability. We are
honored to continue partnering with Fall River in
building systems that reduce harm and expand
opportunity for young people.”
–Amber Nogelmeier, CJI Senior Policy Specialist
& Youth Justice Lead
Why This Partnership Endures
Twenty years of Shannon CSI investment demonstrate that effective gang violence prevention depends on:
- Long-term collaboration across law enforcement, schools, and community organizations
- Shared data and transparency
- Implementation infrastructure
- Adaptation over time
For CJI, this anniversary reflects not just a continuation of state commitment, but continued trust from state leadership, local partners, and communities working together to strengthen public safety.
As Shannon CSI enters its third decade, CJI remains committed to supporting evidence-based approaches that translate public investment into durable impact.
View the Massachusetts Office of Grants and Research’s press release.
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